Today’s Highlights:
Dennis Stowe begins his run as Jafar in Aladdin at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.
Space Dogs, written & performed by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, directed by Ellie Heyman, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch celebrate the release of their new CD, “The Sunday Set,” with a FREE concert, at 7 PM ET here.
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” conversation, featuring Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Rachel Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Michael Zegen, Caroline Aaron, and Luke Kirby, in person & online at 8 PM ET at NYC’s 92Y.
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Reviews for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre:
LA Times (Charles McNulty): …the show is more of a commercial triumph than an artistic one… lays down an infectious groove without too much concern for lyrical precision… loosely constructed as a set of musical scenes… The show sticks to the surface, not wishing to delve too deeply into Jamie’s psychological and social turmoil… Layton Williams…reprises his fawn-like performance as Jamie with a breathy intensity and a sashay flair. The sympathetic figure he cuts in his school uniform doesn’t depend on his acting… The production is overlong, with a series of endings that are a drag in both senses of the word.
Entertainment Weekly (Maureen Lee Menker): f you put Billy Elliot and Kinky Boots in a blender, you’d probably come up with something like Everybody’s Talking About Jamie… The script from director Jonathan Butterell and Tom MacRae (who also wrote the lyrics) can veer a bit into after-school-special territory… no fault in Williams’ performance. He infuses Jamie with a nimble emotional undercurrent, layering the festering hurt under his armor of outré jokes and flash… But if everybody’s talking about Jamie, they should be talking about the supporting cast even more. Jamie’s mother, Margaret, is the heart of the show…
Theatrely (Rachel Hsu): Step aside, Six: there’s a new queen in town. Layton Williams makes a regal U.S. debut as the title role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie… brilliant casting… Composer Dan Gillespie Sells has a knack for the catchy, and his score makes way for strutting, dancing, and acrobatic feats in stilettos. But the show’s greatest strength may be how the fun elements all gravitate around a genuine emotional center, where pop gives way to rock and soul… Melissa Jacques stops the show more than once… A perhaps less effective use of technology in the show is its techno-modern set, lighting, and unnecessary projection design.
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Dawn Lewis (Zelma) will depart Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Jan. 30 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
She will be replaced by NaTasha Yvette Williams on Feb. 4.
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Hudson Stage will present a staged reading of Barbara Dana’s What Keeps Us Going on Sat. Jan. 29 at 7:30 PM ET at Armonk’s Whippoorwill Theatre, directed by Austin Pendleton. The reading will be followed by a Q&A.
Blythe Danner, Anthony Arkin, Amelia Campbell, and Lee Wilkoff.
A well-known veteran actress can’t remember her lines. A middle-aged woman who sacrificed her creative life to secure her marriage is left by her husband. When the women meet to collaborate on a precarious project, an unexpected friendship is born.
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A Litle Night Music will run Feb. 4 – Mar. 13 at the Greenway Court Theatre, directed by Ryan O’Connor, with music direction by Anthony Zediker.
Zoe Bright (Madame Armfeldt), Peyton Crim (Frederick Egerman), Amanda Kruger (Henrik Egerman), Andrea Lara (Anderssen), Meredith Pyle (Linquist), Emma Rose (Fredrika Armfeldt), Alexa Rosengaus (Petra), Christopher Robert Smith (Count Carl-Magnus), Dekontee Tucrkile (Erlansen), Catherine Wadkins (Desiree Armfeldt), and Sarah Wolter (Charlotte Malcolm), with Lux Amaya and Ronni Paige.
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Article: “Stephen Sondheim: The Essential Musical Dramatist Who Taught Us to Hear,” by Jesse Green (New York Times).
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Play-per-View presents its first in-person workshop production of Talene Monahon’s Jane Anger will run Feb. 21 – Mar. 13 at the New Ohio Theatre, directed by Jess Chayes.
Michael Urie, Ryan Spahn, Amelia Workman, and Talene Monahon.
Shakespeare — stuck in quarantine during the plague with a bad case of writer’s block — and the cunning woman who climbs through the window and changes history.
A limited ticket offer for $35 will be available with code ANGER 1606 (limited amount per performance).
The complete title of the play is Jane Anger or The Lamentable Comedie of JANE ANGER, that Cunning Woman, and also of Willy Shakespeare and his Peasant Companion, Francis, Yes and Also of Anne Hathaway (also a Woman) Who Tried Very Hard.
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A Bronx Tale, written & performed by Chazz Palminteri, will take place Sat. Apr. 2 at 8 PM PT at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Concert Hall.
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A livestream reading of John Marston’s The Wonder of Women will take place Mon. Jan. 31 at 7:30 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theatre, directed by Nathan Winkelstein.
Ro Boddie, Robert Cuccioli, Rynaldo Piniella, Cara Ricketts, Derek Smith, and Sarin Monae West.
A dauntless princess is tested in a crucible of moral absolutes, ruthless ambition, and utter depravity. After her wedding night is interrupted by the onset of war, Sophonisba emerges from a series of conspiracies with heroic virtue as the “just shame of men” and multi-faceted “wonder of women.”
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A handful of organizations and individuals have been named as beneficiaries of Stephen Sondheim’s estate trust, which is reportedly worth an estimated $75 million.
Recipients: The Dramatist Guild Fund, Irish Rep, Library of Congress, the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institute, and more. Named individuals are Sondheim’s husband, Jeff Romley, James Lapine, Peter Jones (playwright and former romantic partner), assistant Steven Clar, and Peter Wooster and Rob Girand, who lived in and worked on (respectively) a small house on Sondheim’s Connecticut property. The amount that each beneficiary will receive from the estate is unclear.
Mr. Sondheim also contributed an extensive record collection to the Library of Congress after a fire destroyed his house in the ’90s, with “11,000 – 13,000 LPS, mostly classical music, with a surprising number by Scandinavian and South American composers, in addition to two collection of the papers of Arthur Laurents and Hal Prince.
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The world premiere of Jake Brunger & Pippa Cleary’s The Great British Bake Off, a musical version of the TV series, will run July 22 – Aug. 6 at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre.
Director and casting TBA.
The new musical will explore the trials and lives of the eight bakers involved in the series.
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Dave Malloy & Krista Knight’s Don’t Stop Me will receive public workshop presentations Feb. 17-20 at the Manhattan School of Music, directed by Chloe Treat, with choreography by Treat & Mayte Natalio, and music direction by Dan Garmon. 
here.
Manhattan School of Music students.
The new musical centers on an other-worldly dance-a-thon at Plain Springs high, complete with a demonic DJ and deadly consequences for the losers.
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. Dawn Lewis (Zelma) will depart Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Jan. 30 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre.
She will be replaced by NaTasha Yvette Williams on Feb. 4.
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Miami New Drama will present the world premiere of Winter Miller’s When Monica Met Hillary Mar. 3-27 (opening Mar. 5) at Miami’s Colony theatre, directed by Margot Bordelon.
Kyra Kennedy (Monica Lewinsky), Danielle Skraastad (Hillary Clinton), Mia Matthews (Marcia Lewis), and Rasha Zamamiri (Huma Abedin).
Girl meets boss. Girl falls for boss. Girl loses everything. A First Lady breaks the glass ceiling…only to find another. Monica and Hillary have never met. Until now.
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Todd Buonopane: All Washed Up will take place Fri. Jan. 28 at 7 PM ET (and available to stream for 24 hours) at NYC’s Green Room, with music direction by Kevin David Thomas.
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Dennis Kelly’s After the End will run Feb. 25 – Mar. 26 (opening Mar. 2) at Theatre Royal Stratford, directed by Lyndsey Turner.
Nick Blood (Mark) and Amaka Okafor (Louise).
A city under attack from a nuclear blast. As the dust settles, Louise wakes to find herself in a fallout shelter with Mark, the colleague who has saved her life. They have enough water and food to last two weeks. Now they just need to find a way of surviving each other.